The Nationals knew they would have difficult decisions to make leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. That's not a surprise.

The nature of those decisions, though? Pretty much a complete shock. The Nationals, in Bryce Harper's final season before hitting the free-agent market, expected to win the NL East going away and compete with baseball's elite teams for the World Series title. They expected to scour the trade market to find postseason reinforcements, and they had the prospect pieces necessary to make at least one industry-rattling trade.

Instead, they've been stuck around .500 and haven't looked much like a playoff team, much less a title team. They're a game under .500, seven games out of first place in the NL East and 5.5 games out of the final wild-card spot with five teams ahead of them. Here's another way to put their predicament: There are 15 teams in the NL, and only four have a worse record than the Nationals. Yikes.

So now, the Nationals have to decide whether to trade one or more players from the sizable group of players who will be free agents after the 2018 season. Here's the thing: Aside from Harper, there isn't a single one of those free agents-to-be who would receive a qualifying offer from the Nationals. And that means the Nationals would get nothing in return for a group of players who have value, just not "qualifying offer" value. That's fine for a team making a playoff push, but for a team that would like to remain a contender for the next couple years, that would be a massive wasted opportunity.

As Yahoo's Jeff Passan reported on Thursday afternoon, the Nationals have put out feelers to see what teams might be interested in what they might be selling. That doesn't mean they are selling, of course, but with the non-waiver deadline just five days away, decisions are going to have to be made, and soon.

Let's start here: This isn't a rebuild situation. The Nationals will aim to compete in 2019, which means pretty much anyone under contract/club control after this year will stick around. That group includes Anthony Rendon and Tanner Roark (free agents after 2019) and guys with long-term contracts/club options, such as Max Scherzer, Adam Eaton, Stephen Strasburg, Sean Doolittle, Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Michael A. Taylor, to name a few.

So let's take a look at the players - all of whom are free agents after the season - who might (stressing the "might") be in their final week in a Nationals uniform.

Bryce Harper

Thoughts: Trading Harper is not a scenario anyone imagined possible, and the reality is he's probably not going anywhere. He's the face of the franchise, and dealing him away might be a bigger white flag than the Nationals' owners are willing to wave. It might as well have "We failed" written in big letters. They haven't given up hope of re-signing him as a free agent, and dealing him now could be seen as a big roadblock in that quest, as Ken Rosenthal reports.

But here's the reality: At best, signing Harper as a free agent is a 50-50 shot. If he plays out the season in D.C. and leaves as a free agent this offseason, the Nationals would get only a draft pick as compensation - because they'd obviously extend a qualifying offer, which he'd obviously reject. They could easily get much more value than one late-first-round draft pick if they trade him. Can this franchise - could any franchise - afford to get only one-third (or one-fourth, etc.) of the value when losing a player like Harper? Nationals fans have been resigned to the fact that he's probably not coming back for a couple years now, and while this season has been disappointing, failing to cash in on a lottery ticket like Harper would be damn near unforgivable.

Pitchers

The Nationals, sensing the season was heading in the wrong direction, traded for Royals closer Kelvin Herrera in mid-June. That was a smart move, and Herrera has been OK with the Nationals (3.29 ERA), but this club's issues run deeper than one reliever. He has value and might be the first one moved, should they decide to sell.

Shawn Kelley, another right-hander, has been very good this season (2.67 ERA, 0.857 WHIP), and Ryan Madson is an experienced late-inning arm who has a better FIP (3.86) than ERA (4.79). Those are the three names Passan mentioned in his tweet.

Lefty starter Gio Gonzalez started the season strong (2.10 ERA through 11 starts), but his past nine outings have been pretty ugly (6.70 ERA, with 68 hits/walks in 43 innings). There won't be any teams lining up to pencil him into a Game 3 playoff start, but he could be nice depth for a contender. The Nationals signed Jeremy Hellickson to a one-year lottery ticket deal this offseason, and he's been solid in his 14 starts, posting a 3.44 ERA/3.95 FIP.

Position players

The Nationals signed Daniel Murphy to a three-year, free-agent deal heading into the 2016 season, and he was truly brilliant at the plate in his first two years in D.C., posting a .334 average, .956 OPS and averages of 24 homers, 97 RBIs and 45 doubles. This year, though, he missed the first couple months recovering from knee surgery, and he hasn't been the same since his return.

In 33 games, Murphy has just a .299 on-base percentage, two homers and a 71 OPS+. He's a buy-low candidate for a contender, especially an AL team that could afford to give him at-bats at DH to hide his glove. He's struggled, but at 33, it's still easy to imagine he gets hot once he shakes off all the rust from the long layoff.

Speaking of players capable of hot streaks, Matt Adams has actually been very good for the Nationals this season, swatting 16 homers in 228 PAs and posting a .909 OPS. He's not going to be a full-time starting left fielder, but he can fill in on a day-to-day basis along with playing first or being a DH. You probably remember Mark Reynolds' big day in early July - he went 5 for 5 with two homers and 10 RBIs against the Marlins - and he's been solid overall when called upon, with 10 homers and a .911 OPS in 46 games. Like Adams, he's the power off-the-bench bat teams love to have in October.